If you think of the most frequent questions that you are likely
to hear asked about any piece of diving equipment, then 'How's your suit?' must be near the top of the list.

With such a diverse choice of drysuits on the market, it seems that the diver's preference is often influenced more by other people's good or bad experiences than a five figure advertising campaign organised by the Saatchis. (We all know the nicknames that certain brands of suits acquire by their disgruntled users).So what is it that divers undertaking the more adventurous end of the spectrum look for in a suit?

Firstly, while kitting up on the surface, a suit needs to provide plenty of flexibility and mobility in the arms and upper torso as the various equipment elements are plugged, clipped and strapped into place. Ideally the suit should be part of the overall diving system with plenty of storage for tables, D-SMB's, spare mask, knife etc.

Secondly, a suit must be able to maintain a continuous level of warmth and buoyancy throughout the dive. Most gas divers have moved away from the traditional 7-8mm neoprene suits as their drawback of extra buoyancy problems at the surface is only matched by their reduced thermal quality at depth. Taking these two points into account, the majority of suits that would be classed as being aimed at the 'technical' market are either of a membrane or crushed neoprene construction.
About twelve months ago I was forced to do something about the state of my membrane suit. Looking like a survivor from an explosion at an Aquasure factory, the suit was more porous than a teabag. Having considered a number of suits on the market I bought an Otter Tech Superskin from Bradford based manufacturer Otter Watersports. The suit was then Otter's top of the range but has now been superseded by the 'Britannic Superskin'.

Over the past year the suit has been in, under, through and around wrecks and caves to depths of about 86m. For me there is only one description of the suit's construction and performance and that is 'bomb-proof'.

The suit is of a trilaminate construction but in addition it has a hard wearing fibre covering the surface which is the registered 'Otter Skin'. This covering is very abrasive resistant yet isn't too stiff. The self-donning front entry zip works well but you do need to keep the zip well lubricated to allow smooth operation. The drysuit zip is covered by a second zip to keep all the muck and crud out of the main zip's teeth. The seals are all heavy duty latex and once adjusted for neck and wrist thickness they are comfortable enough. The suit is fitted with Apeks inflator and auto-dump valves that are secured onto large rubber disks. The main area of abrasion for any suit is at the knees and judging from the number of scratches and pulls on mine, the double kneepad system works well.

Above the knee are the double cargo pockets. Unfortunately cargo seems to be a bit of a misnomer in this case, as the outer zipped pocket is alright for carrying a set of spare tables and maybe a Jon-line, but not much else. (The cargo pockets have been vastly improved on the 'Britannic' Superskin and are much more useful). Another advantage of membrane or crushed neoprene suits is the ability to vary the amount of thermal protection you use under the suit. The coldest I've dived in the suit was in 3°C last winter (though that was at depth, the temperature on deco was a much warmer 5°C!). I've varied what I was wearing beneath the suit from just a t-shirt and thinsulate to full thermal longjohns and vest, polar fleece sweatshirt, fleecy tracksuit bottoms and thinsulate. The latter may feel bulky, but the suit didn't feel too tight or restrictive. As far as movement underwater is concerned, I recently added an O'Three 'P-valve' to the suit and reaching the valve while wearing quads is quite a feat of contortionism. So far I've managed to reach the valve and haven't wet myself...not under water anyway!

Apart from the large cargo pockets there isn't any difference in quality between the Tech and Britannic Superskins. They are both well constructed suits that certainly fulfil the criteria of 'technical diving suit'.

	Tech Superskin	Britannic Superskin
Construction	Tri-laminate Otter Skin	Tri-laminate Otter Skin
Off The Peg	Yes	Yes
Made To Measure	Yes	Yes
Undersuit kit	Included	Included
Price	£630	£630

PROS: Well constructed, comfortable and tough. CONS: Cargo pockets.
N.B Otter have recently introduced their 'EXTREME' technical suit which is a 4mm crushed neoprene suit, especially designed for cold water/long duration diving.